Battle of the Indus 1221
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1221 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Pakistan | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Mongol invasion of Khwarazmian Empire and Eastern Iran | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Khwarazmian Empire, Mongol Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 33.7700, 72.1800 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Indus was fought on the banks of the Indus River, on 24 November 1221, between the armies commanded by Jalal al-Din of the Khwarazmian Empire, and Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire. The battle, which resulted in an overwhelming Mongol victory, was the concluding engagement in the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire.
After his father Muhammad II had died on an island in the Caspian Sea, Jalal al-Din assumed the title of Khwarazmshah and travelled eastwards. Escaping the Mongols several times, he reached Ghazni and started assembling a large force; he then defeated the Mongol commander Shigi Qutuqu at the Battle of Parwan. This upset victory drew the attention and ire of Genghis Khan, who gathered a force of at least 50,000 and moved towards the Shah, who had lost a large proportion of his force because of a dispute over plunder. Now unable to effectively combat the Khan, he retreated eastwards towards the Indus river; the Mongols caught up to the Khwarazmians on the morning they were due to cross the Indus.
The Shah's army, now numbering around 30,000, assumed a strong defensive position on the banks of the river. They acquitted themselves well in the early fighting, managing to drive back the Mongol forces despite being heavily outnumbered.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Indus (revision 1370600334), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Attock (1813) 1813 · 17 km
- Battle of Hasan Abdal (1813) 1813 · 47 km
- Battle of Peshawar (1001) 1001 · 63 km
- Battle of Jamrud 1837 · 78 km
- Battle of Balakot 1831 · 78 km
- Siege of Lal Masjid 2007 · 84 km
Other battles of the Mongol invasion of Khwarazmian Empire and Eastern Iran
- Irghiz River skirmish 1209
- Otrar Catastrophe 1219
- Siege of Bukhara 1220
- Siege of Gurganj 1220
- Siege of Khujand (1220) 1220
- Siege of Nishapur (1221) 1220
- Siege of Samarkand (1220) 1220
- Siege of Bamyan 1221
- Siege of Herat (1221) 1221
- Siege of Merv (1221) 1221
All 11 battles of the Mongol invasion of Khwarazmian Empire and Eastern Iran →
Browse more: battles in Pakistan · Asia · Medieval battles